True Love's Curse
by Amaries2000
Summary: *CaptainBeauty* The Evil Queen places Hook under a sleeping curse and Emma's kiss cannot wake him. Hook is in love with someone else and she loves him in return, but just because love is true does not mean it can be kept.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Belle**

I hate that I wasn't there to catch you when you fell and it kills me not to be by your side now. Though I suppose it wouldn't make any difference, there is nothing I can do to help. God, that pains me to admit. My eyes are burning with tears that are building up like water in a dam, threatening to break through but I keep them at bay. Anything more than misty eyes would give me away and that was never part of our plan, Killian.

David and Mary Margaret moved you to your bed, the one you share with Emma, and I know that you're only sleeping but your stillness is deceiving. I've seen you this way in my nightmares though in those it was death that had claimed you, not a sleeping curse. Your skin is pale and the weight you've shed over the last few weeks is disturbingly noticeable against the king sized bed and the mountain of fluffy pillows around your head. You have told me that stress has always had this effect on you, but it still alarms me. You seem so small yet you are the strongest man I know. A pain shoots through my chest and I want nothing more than to sit upon the bed with your hand in mine. I'm here, Killian.

Mary Margaret enters the room. "Emma is on her way."

After forty minutes of failed attempts to reach Emma there is a collective sigh of relief. It's impossible but I will your beautiful blue eyes to open without Emma's kiss. Regina confirmed the Evil Queen had placed you under a sleeping curse moments after it happened but I foolishly continue to hope that you've only fainted or been knocked unconscious. For a moment I think your eyelashes flutter but it's only in my mind; they lay delicate and still against your cheeks.

"He'll be just fine," Regina assesses with a ruby lipped smile. She pats Henry on the shoulder and bids him to follow her to the kitchen for some lunch.

The boy smiles at me as he passes by and I am distracted long enough to note how much he has grown since our first meeting. It's incredible how much can happen in what seems no time at all. Years pass in a blink and blend into one strand until time is tracked not by days but events. Killian and I had met four years ago and it seems like yesterday. He had been a pirate with a heart set on vengeance, and retribution for his lost love had meant my own life. The tables had turned some time ago and now Killian protected me from Rumple. Rumpel _stiltskin_. Rumple is gone, a mere ghost of the man I had once loved. My heart has moved on.

"Belle, are you okay?" Mary Margaret's face is etched with worry lines.

"I'm fine, just poor Killian," My voice breaks when I speak his name. I press my lips together hard, harder when Mary Margaret begins to blur through my tears.

Mary Margaret takes my hands in hers and offers a gentle pat. "I know you and Hook have become good friends. He's going to be fine once Emma gets here, no need to worry. Come on, I'll pour you a cup of tea." She smiles, well aware of my fondness for the drink.

I glance at Killian's still frame before following my host down the stairs where the group is scattered between the kitchen and living area. Almost everyone is in a cheery disposition, scarfing down the turkey and Swiss sandwiches Regina and Henry prepared. Henry has busied himself with a hand held computer game and the Charmings are snuggling and whispering together on the sofa. I envy the Charmings; husband and wife who had fallen in love the moment they had met. They have their share of problems but they work through them as a team and their love never falters. The two of them make love look so easy and from experience I can tell you that that is not the case.

"Disgusting, aren't they?" Regina says to me as she dabs her mouth with a paper napkin.

There is a version of myself somewhere deep down that disagrees with Regina's analysis but the me here and now nods and agrees.

"Are they always like this?" It's rare that Regina and I talk together about anything let alone something we are both on the same page about, so I keep up the conversation.

Regina groans and rolls her eyes. "From what Henry tells me, yes. And Emma and the pirate aren't much better."

I put down my sandwich, any appetite I have vanquishing when the cozy Charmings transform into Emma and Killian. Emma looks at me with a knowing look before claiming Killian's lips with her own.

"Are you alright, dear?" Regina says to me, saving me from my nightmare.

I blink the vision of Emma and Killian away and feel the tear trail down my cheek this time. Regina hands me a fresh napkin and I wipe my cheeks dry.

"I'm sorry," I say with a weak smile.

"No need to apologize," Regina insists, her eyes straying over my belly. "I've never been through it but from what I hear the hormones can be pretty intense."

"How did you know? I haven't told anyone and−"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It was just a guess really." It looks like there is more Regina wants to say but she doesn't.

I nod, indulging my tears under the guise of hormones. I clutch my stomach out of both love and fear and try not to remind myself that I don't know whose child I'm carrying. That will only make things worse. _Stop_ _crying_ , I tell myself; I'm stronger than this. I blow my nose and straighten myself in my chair. Regina has grown bored with me and her lips are pursed together, her expression thoughtful. When she notices my curious eyes on her she leans forward across the table.

"Why would the Evil Queen put the pirate under a sleeping curse?" She rushes the question and I have no answer, I have been wondering the exact same thing. Regina continues. "What could her end game with this possibly be? Emma's on her way to wake him now. What was the point?"

The front door of the apartment bursts open and Emma charges in, eyes wild and searching.

"Where is he?" Her voice is edged with panic.

Mary Margaret approaches her and sets her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Honey, he's okay, please calm down."

"Calm down? Why would the Evil Queen do this?"

Regina responds. "We don't know. But everything is fine, Hook is under a simple sleeping curse which will be broken as soon as you plant one on him. He's upstairs in the bedroom, go on!"

Emma grips the stairway banister and bounds up to the second floor, her parents and Henry close behind.

"Amazing how excited people get to see magic performed," Regina says, uninterested.

"Well, not all of us have it," I say simply, relieved I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see true love's kiss in action.

I decide to leave now, before Killian comes downstairs and breaks my heart with his sea blue eyes. I fasten my pea coat and don my knit cap, prepared for the chill fall air outside. Regina opens her mouth to speak but before she can express the thought−

"Regina!" Mary Margaret sounds worried. She appears at the top of the staircase, her face flushed, lips trembling. "He's not waking up."

Regina tilts her head to one side as if she misheard but the words don't need repeating. I steady myself against the front door, feeling as though I've been stabbed through the gut. Regina hastens upstairs and disappears into the bedroom while I stand petrified, struggling to breathe. If Killian is dead−

The baby in my belly kicks as if forbidding the thought to fully form. As I climb the stairs I feel like I'm walking with ten pound weights tied to my ankles. I stop outside the doorway to find Emma crying in her father's arms, Mary Margaret in tears, Henry looking grim, and Regina passing her hand over Killian from his head down to his toes and back up again.

"I don't understand, it really is just a simple sleeping curse. The kiss should work."

Upon hearing the words, Emma rushes back to the bedside, lifting Killian's face into her hands. She smashes her lips to his. Long kisses, short kisses, she kisses him with the desperation of a woman who has just lost everything. Fresh tears well in my eyes upon seeing Emma so distraught, upon seeing Killian lifeless and pale.

"Why isn't it working?" David says to Regina as he struggles to keep himself composed for his family.

Regina has the look of a bad news bearer. "The only explanation for a sleeping curse failing to break is that the kiss isn't one of true love." She speaks regretfully.

"What?" Emma says, face white.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," Regina says, saddened.

The Charmings form a secure group hug around Emma while I struggle to steady my breathing.

"Belle?" Regina says my name as I sway and am consumed by darkness.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you all for reading! If you like it, leave a comment. If you hate it, leave a comment. This story will probably be a three-parter with a potential sequel- depends on the feedback :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Hook**

There is something about her. She is beautiful of course but her kindness, her goodness, her sympathy and understanding for those of us who are unworthy, make her radiant. That first day she was on my ship, she was frustratingly brave and stubborn− qualities that I now find so attractive it makes my heart ache. Since, she has opened my eyes and made me see the monster I had become and I am forever indebted to her for that. She took a rotten heart and made it pure again.

"Belle, please wake up." I say, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead and cradling her head in my lap.

She shouldn't be here and I wonder how she had managed to do so. I chuckle, I can't help it−Belle really can do anything she sets her mind to. I definitely have a thing for fiery, strong women. Milah was like that, Swan too. Swan. A familiar pang pierces my heart. How could I have betrayed Emma? I had fought so hard to win her heart and now that I have it, I break it. She could not undo the spell on me and I think the Evil Queen knew that when she casted it. I am a ploy in the Queen's game; she will do anything to hurt and weaken Emma and it seems to have been an effective play. I curse the Queen and I curse myself for being used so easily.

My plan had been to tell Emma the truth about Belle and me and I was on my way to do just that when the Evil Bitch had confronted me.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, handsome?" I was just leaving Granny's after having a couple pints to calm my nerves, when the voice behind me made me cringe to a stop.

I had turned to face her. "What the bloody hell do you want?"

She had curved her dark, painted lips into a wicked grin. "Your help of course," she had stated simply.

I had cocked my head, and waved my hook toward her, encouraging her to get on with her nonsense with no delay.

"I'm no fool," she had said. "I know Emma is the heart and strength of this sad little town. She's the glue that holds everything together and the reason my plans will always fail. I need her to butt out of my business."

"Just Emma? What about Regina, she presents more of an obstacle for you, I would think."

"I can handle Regina just fine. We have the same mind, I know how she thinks. Ms. Swan however, can be unpredictable. The only thing I can predict is that the disloyalty of the man she loves will break her heart."

I had growled. "I am on my way to tell her everything right now, happy?"

"No. No," the Queen had said. "You see, if you were to tell her then she would appreciate your honesty and the revelation wouldn't have the same effect as say, a sleeping draught."

"What do you mean?"

The Queen had approached me then, her eyes dark with enjoyment. "How do you think Emma will feel when she kisses you and you don't wake up?"

I ran, knowing then how foolish it was. Vines coiled around my legs, tripping me hard to the ground. My hands were then tied behind my back, and one coiled itself around my neck, choking me when I attempted to move my head. The queen wasted no time tipping the vial of sleeping draught down my throat. It tasted bitter on my tongue and I tried and failed to spit it back up.

"Goodnight, Killian." The Queen had said, leaving me in a tangled heap on the sidewalk.

The vine around my neck burned me as I screamed. I heard pounding feet on the pavement, then my eyes closed, and I was here. Now Belle is here too, surrounded by darkness overlooking a ring of fire. I jumped into the fire ring once only to be met with more fire. There is no way out as far as I can tell.

Beads of perspiration swell on Belle's forehead and I wipe her face with my handkerchief. She whines and her head tilts to face me but her eyes do not open. I lean over and press a soft kiss to her lips. She smells of honey and a sweet herb I cannot place. I imagine she must have been drinking tea shortly before arriving here. I wipe her forehead again and then dab at my own; the heat is intense and I long for a cool ocean breeze. If I close my eyes and concentrate hard I can almost feel the sway of the Jolly Roger on the waves, see and hear the gulls circling and crying out overhead, and feel my hair being tousled by the same wind powering the sails.

Then I bring Belle along with me and watch her breathe in the ocean air. She turns to me and smiles, sapphire eyes twinkling.

"This is beautiful, Killian! Thank you for bringing me along."

"Of course. I can't imagine not having you here with me. The Roger is awfully lonely without you on board."

Belle smiles, her cheeks dimpling. "I miss this," she says. "I miss you." Her eyes are trained on the horizon, welling with tears.

"I miss you too, Belle. You have no idea how much." I touch her face and she presses her cheek into my hand. She raises her eyes to meet my own.

"I think I have some idea," she says, choked up but still managing a smile.

I know it isn't real, that this moment on the Jolly Roger is only in my mind but I can't stop myself. My fingers grasp the sky blue ribbon in her hair and tug the long tresses free. Her hair billows in the sea breeze and she grins at me with timidity. I walk behind her and slowly unzip her matching blue dress, letting it drop to the deck around her feet. I remove clothing until she stands naked before me and all I can do is marvel. I move toward her.

"Nuh uh uh," she holds up a finger to stop me. "Your turn."

Her eyes become darker and wider as I undress myself. When our outfits match she beckons me to her and I obey. My mouth covers hers and our tongues dance. Our bodies press together, locking like a puzzle piece. Arms and legs entangle and we become lost in one another. Afterwards I pull Belle against my side and she drops her head onto my chest. She listens to my pounding heart and trails her fingers through the hair on my chest.

"We have to go back soon, don't we?" Belle says after several minutes of comfortable silence.

"Aye," I say. "But that's a good thing, right? You do want to want to wake me up?"

"Of course I do! It's just−"

"Emma," I finish for her.

Belle nods.

"I had never intended for things to happen this way, Belle. The Queen got to me first. But I want to go back and set things right. Or as right as I can manage, anyhow."

Belle sighs. "Why did you have to fall in love with me Killian?"

I grin and kiss the corner of her mouth. "You make me feel like a man, and a damn good one."

"You _are_ a good one."

"My heart isn't rotten?" I smirk.

Belle shakes her head and laughs. "You had a gun pointed at me! What was I supposed to think, hm?"

"Alright," I say as I pull her on top of me. "Why did you fall in love with me?"

Belle thinks for a moment. "Well I did take you out with an oar that same day. I feel guilty, I suppose." She struggles to keep a straight face.

I growl and attack her neck with my lips inciting her to squeal. Then she screams. I pull back to find that the Roger has caught fire. The flames are eating away at the quarter deck and two sails have been devoured. Instinctively I throw myself over Belle to shield her from the flames.

"Killian?" Belle touches my chin, her expression is fear. "Is this where you are?"

I look around at the darkness and the blazing fire that has begun to lash out violently. I nod. "Please wake me up." Flame whips my arm and the burn forces me to cry out. "Please!"

Belle nods furiously, then she is gone.

I scoot into the darkness and hide from the flames. They've grown higher and more spirited than they were before and for the first time since my arrival I feel threatened. My eyes itch and water from the smoke and I begin to cough. It is becoming difficult to breathe and for a wild moment I wonder if it is possible to die in here. And maybe that is what I deserve. No matter how many times I'm told I am a good man, I rarely feel like one. How ironic that my arch nemesis should be the Crocodile when he and I have so much in common. Just like him I have hurt everyone who I love and everyone who loves me.

Except for Belle, the woman who loves and confides in me and is on her way to help me now. I look through the flames and once again imagine I'm on the Jolly Roger with Belle. She smiles at me warmly.

"I love you, Killian Jones," she says.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Belle**

When I wake up everyone is hovering over me, their faces distorted from the angle. I sit up slowly, David placing a hand on my shoulder to steady me as I am a bit wobbly.

"Belle, are you alright?" Regina asks. Her eyes tell me she knows where I had been just now.

"I think so." Everyone releases a deep breath. "I'm sorry I scared you," I add.

Emma, who is seated on the bed at Killian's side looks relieved as well and I feel an intense stab of guilt. How am I supposed to kiss Killian in front of her? Every force of evil seems to have it out for Emma. Her demeanor over the last several weeks has become more and more exhausted and now I am to break the curse on Killian, revealing that I am his true love? Emma is strong, but her heart isn't strong enough now. She needs Killian on her side now more than I do. I risk a glance at Killian and try not to cry.

"I've had a thought," I announce to the room. "I don't think the curse on Hook is a regular sleeping curse."

Emma's eyes widen and she appears eager to hear what the alternative might be. "What do you think it is, Belle?"

"Yes, Belle, what do you think it is?" Regina says with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," I pause, speeding through all the knowledge I possess. "I have heard of a sleeping curse that can only be broken with a concoction that includes the hair of the one the person sleeping loves."

Mary Margaret scrunches her face in thought and David seems surprised to hear that such a thing exists.

"Regina, is this true?" Emma says eagerly.

Regina and I make eye contact and I silently beg until she nods her head. "It is. It's just an uncommon spell so I didn't consider it before. Good work, Belle." Emma plucks a strand of yellow hair from her head and Regina collects it in a small vial. "I'll get right on it," she says.

"I want to help," Emma insists.

"Hook needs you, Emma. Stay with him. Belle and I can handle this, okay?"

Emma looks from Regina to Killian, bites her bottom lip and nods. "Okay."

"Come on," Regina says, helping me up off the floor. We don't speak a word to one another until we have reached her vault in the cemetery.

"What is going on, Belle?" Regina says irritably.

"I think you already know," I say.

She contemplates a moment and then she says "If he loves you then why do this? You could have kissed him back there and all of this would be done with."

"That is not how Killian and I wanted Emma to find out about us. The Evil Queen did this out of spite just to hurt her, it's cruel."

"And starting a thing with Hook wasn't cruel? You're supposed to be Emma's friend." Regina spat.

I began to cry like a child. "I know. Killian and I were supposed to just be friends too. We didn't mean for it to happen Regina, but it did. We want to be honest with Emma, we just don't want to rub the whole thing in her face. That's what the Queen wants because she knows how much a broken heart can weaken a person. She needs Killian now and he does love her."

Regina's face turns concerned. "And when do you plan on revealing all of this?"

"When Emma is safe and everything goes back to normal," I say without hesitation.

"So you're just going to give up the man you love?"

"Yes," I say, my voice breaking. I turn away from Regina and wipe furiously at my eyes. "He is Emma's, not mine."

"But the curse−"

"I don't care!" I scream. Regina backs up a few steps and I continue. "What if there was no curse? We wouldn't know Emma isn't Killian's true love, would we? And what if the Queen tampered with the spell to make Emma's kiss ineffective? Who is to say I can even wake him up?"

Regina takes a few steps towards me. "Surely you don't believe all of that," she says.

"I don't know what I believe," I admit. "I used to believe love was this beautiful, untouchable thing that brought elation and hope, but look where it's gotten me. The incessant lies I got from Rumple and now being the one to interfere with Emma's happiness? Love is destruction."

Regina purses her lips. "Well, I can't say I don't see where you're coming from. I felt the same way once. At least you didn't sentence the wife of the man you love to death. Now _that_ is bad."

I don't know how to respond to this.

Regina shrugs, "The point is that love is not easy and it can come about under some pretty wild circumstances. We can't all be the Charmings."

"Thanks Regina, but I know what I have to do." _And I'm really going to hate it._

"Suit yourself. Let's head back," Regina says heading outside.

"The potion!" I say. After putting on the charade there's no way we can show up empty handed.

"Oh, um..." Regina looks around the vault, spots an empty bottle and fills it with water. She retrieves Emma's hair and drops it inside. "Done."

We walk back the way we had come, silent except now I was sniffling.

"Is the baby his?" Regina sounds alarmed.

"Maybe. I don't know yet."

Regina takes my hand and squeezes.

No one protests when Regina explains that the potion won't work if Emma were the one to administer it and that only one person can be present. There are a couple skeptical looks but everyone just wants Killian back. So I take the hair water and go to Killian's bedside alone. There are so many words I want to say before I bring him back and lose him but I can't find the right ones. All I do is hope that my kiss will remove Killian from his terrifying, fiery prison.

I look at the door to make sure the knob is still and when I am sure no one will barge in I lean over Killian and press my lips to his. His eyes fluttered open and I release a sob.

"Belle, thank god!" He places his hand on my face, moving in to kiss me and I pull away.

His eyes look pained by my rejection.

"We can't do this, Killian," I say softly, quickly. "Emma can't lose you now." My eyes blur his face, like a metaphor for losing him.

"What do you mean?" His voice is low, confused.

"The Evil Queen did this to weaken her. Emma needs all of her strength for what is coming and a great deal of that strength comes from you. You love Emma, right?"

"Of course but−"

"Then don't break her heart," I interrupt.

Killian's eyes dart back and forth as though a million pictures are zooming in front of him and he's trying to focus on one. They stop and bore into my own. "What about my heart?"

There is a knock at the door and Regina's voice. "How is everything going in there?"

"When all of this is over, we'll tell Emma together," My words are rushed.

Killian takes a moment to process the situation. "Maybe you're right. How can I do this to her now?"

"Belle?" Regina calls.

We're out of time. Killian and I kiss, relishing it because we don't know when our lips will next touch. His sad eyes study my face as if committing every inch of it to memory, then he lays back against the pillows and closes his eyes.

"He's waking up!" I choke. "The potion worked!"

The door swings open and Killian blinks and slowly sits up as though for the first time today. Emma rushes into the room and throws her arms around him. I move aside just as their lips mash together and watch as Killian tells another woman that he loves her.

I walk from the room in a weird sort of daze. The events of the day don't seem real and if they are real, they're unfair. Once I would have believed that if my kiss had been the one to wake a man from a sleeping curse then it meant he was mine. Destiny, fate, true love, all terms that mean what exactly? If you can't be with your true love then what do you do, settle for less? Carry on alone? I ponder this as I head outside, closing the door firmly behind me. I want to believe that this decision is the right one, that of the two of us, Emma is the one in need of strength right now. I have no one to fight, my life is in no danger. I can go to my quiet library and imagine I am onboard the Jolly Roger, looking out at a beautiful ocean, salty sea breeze rushing through my hair, and Killian Jones slowly unzipping my dress.

The baby kicks.

 **The end.**

* * *

Thank you all for reading!


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